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RNZ News
15 hours ago
- RNZ News
Pasifika Sipoti in brief for 28 July
Issak Fines-Leleiwasa scores a try for the ACT Brumbies. Photo: Photosport Former Wallaby Issak Fines-Leleiwasa is joining the Fijian Drua for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season. Fines-Leleiwasa has featured for the Western Force in the past three years and had declared his intentions to play for Fiji, with his three-year international stand-down period coming to an end in October 2026. The 29-year-old made his Wallabies debut against France in 2023. He is eligible to play for Fiji through his Fijian-born father. The first eight teams to compete in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Professional League, due to kick off in January 2026, will be announced next month. OFC said its club licensing committee will review the assessments and recommend the successful applicants to the OFC executive committee for their decision. There are 13 clubs in the running, with four out of New Zealand, two each from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, plus one club each from Solomon Islands, Tahiti, and Vanuatu. OFC professional league manager Stuart Larman said the the clubs have all worked hard to meet the requirements of the club licensing regulations. Tonga National Rugby League is seeking a new women's coach for the Pacific Championships. The person will take care of Tonga in their Pacific Cup fixtures against Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea, in October and November. Applications close on 1 August. Meanwhile, Melbourne Storm assistant coach Ryan Hinchcliffe will join Toa Samoa's head coach Ben Gardiner as an assistant for the men's Pacific Cup. Toa Samoa will meet Tonga and New Zealand in the competition. Fiji's under-20 men's rugby team will be part of the expanded World Rugby Under-20 Championship in 2026, scheduled to be hosted by Georgia. World Rugby announced the prestigious age-grade tournament has been expanded from the current 12 teams to 16 next year. Fiji, as the Oceania champion, will join hosts Georgia as well as USA, Japan and Uruguay at the event. World Rugby's Nigel Cass said the expansion is a significant step forward in the mission to enhance global competitiveness and provide more young players with the opportunity to shine on the international stage. The Vanuatu Judo Federation says they need government to invest in judo development, especially securing proper training facilities. VJF Vice President Nazario said a lot more success would be achieved with proper judo facilities or dojo. Vanuatu Daily Post reported the Vanuatu judo team, who trained without proper facilities, returned from the Pacific Mini Games in Palau with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Nazario said a lot of young athletes are taking up judo and a proper training facility is needed to better prepare judokas for upcoming tournaments. Fiji is to host two major futsal tournaments later this year. Oceania Football said the OFC Futsal Men's Cup will be held in Suva in September - after the tournament was moved from Solomon Islands. The OFC said the decision was made with member associations, considering the logistics of hosting the competition in Honiara. Fiji will also host the Futsal Men's Champions League, in late November, in Suva.
NZ Herald
17 hours ago
- NZ Herald
British and Irish Lions clincher over Australia the best test of season: Phil Gifford
Tick them off. A huge crowd? How does 90,307 sound? Some brilliant old-school attacking rugby from both teams? Yes. Telecast in 130 countries, it was a game to debunk the idea that rugby has lost its appeal to all but an increasingly shrinking group of aged diehards. And to round it off, there was a refereeing controversy that will run for as long as Wallabies fans can still watch television replays and hear the cries of disbelief from commentator Morgan Turinui. Good on you, Sir Clive After losing the first test in Brisbane 27-19, the Australian team copped it from all quarters. Their own media and public were bitterly disappointed, and before the second test, there was a cutting comment from former Lions and England coach Sir Clive Woodward. He suggested the Wallabies were 'boys playing against men'. Few would have dreamed the same Aussie players were about to rock the Lions. Suddenly, the September test with South Africa at Eden Park is not the only major All Blacks showdown Auckland fans should look forward to this year. Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt carried the brunt of criticism after Brisbane, which was a harsh call considering the relatively average performance of Australian sides in Super Rugby. Given the likeable almost ego-free person Schmidt is, it was a pleasure to watch his team respond with such an outstanding performance. The Wallabies revival started in the forwards, with a scrum that was potent and lineouts that operated with impressive expertise. Add in the physicality of giant lock Will Skelton and captain Harry Wilson, and the base was rock solid. Rob Valetini was as dynamic as he has been all season for the Brumbies. He may well be the best blindside flanker currently playing test rugby. When even Schmidt is outraged Schmidt is virtually the anti-Eddie Jones when it comes to stoking controversy. But the Kiwi obviously felt so strongly about a decision in the 77th minute by Italian referee Andrea Piardi and his assistants, he didn't hold back after the game. The officials had taken no action about what Schmidt felt was head-to-neck contact between replacement Lions flanker Jac Morgan and Aussie forward Carlo Tizzano. Had Morgan been penalised, there would not have been time for Lions wing Hugo Keenan to score the 80th-minute match and series-winning try. Because it was Schmidt who made the comment Australia had been let down by the referee, you have to take it seriously. But having watched the chain of events involving Morgan and Tizzano numerous times, it does feel like a hairline decision that could have gone either way. A more picky referee or TMO might have called a penalty. It was Australia's bad luck that nobody in the officiating team in Melbourne was in a nit-picking mood. Man of the match As impressive as so many of the men in gold jerseys in front of him were, my man of the match was Australian halfback Jake Gordon. The 32-year-old veteran and Waratahs captain has a flinty edge to him that's matched by his ability to read the game. Typical of his vision was his try in the 29th minute, when he dummied past bewildered defenders to give his team an 18-5 lead (with Tom Lynagh's conversion) which looked like the basis for a victory. The match-up between Gordon and All Black Cam Roigard will be fascinating when they face off in the Rugby Championship. Jake Gordon of Australia dives to score a try during the second test between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions. Photo / Photosport A brilliant idea still working It's one of sport's ironies that despite rugby being an upper-class sport in England from its earliest days, tours by combined British Isles teams began in 1888, with a privately funded trip to Australia and New Zealand that had no official connection to fiercely amateur rugby unions in Britain. Over the centuries, the Lions have become one of the most successful and profitable inventions in sport, to the point where every player on the Australian tour will receive a payout of $210,000. Like most good ideas, the concept of having the best players from four international rugby sides combine to tour the other side of the world seems obvious once it has succeeded. The Lions are powerful enough to be a yardstick for any international team. They also give rugby fans in the Southern Hemisphere the chance to watch superstars from the Six Nations, whose home countries tour Downunder so rarely. Phil Gifford is a Contributing Sports Writer for NZME. He is one of the most-respected voices in New Zealand sports journalism.
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
Phoenix overcome lightning strike, penalty shoot-out to claim win in Perth
Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ The Wellington Phoenix survived a lightning strike and a dramatic penalty shoot-out to progress to the last 16 of the Australia Cup. Academy graduate Lukas Kelly-Heald scored the decisive spot kick as the Phoenix beat Perth Glory 8-7 in the shootout played in driving rain at the Olympic Stadium in Perth. The round of 32 tie had finished level at 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time, which was interrupted for more than half an hour due to lightning. Kelly-Heald earlier scored his first competitive goal for the club to put the Nix in front at half-time before Socceroos striker Adam Taggart drew the Glory level in the 89th minute to force an additional 15 minutes a side. Neither team was able to break the deadlock in extra time, sending the tie to penalties. Perth had a chance to win the shootout 5-3 but spurned their fifth spot kick and reserves midfielder Lachlan Candy then converted his to take it to sudden death. The Glory sent their ninth penalty over the bar, but Kelly-Heald made no mistake of his to seal the win for Wellington and spark wild celebrations. However Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano missed Kelly-Heald's decisive spot kick, but not his maiden goal for the Phoenix. "I don't watch penalties so I've got to watch the replay and see his finish. I heard there were some good penalties. "He put in a great stint. There was talk about taking him off in extra time but he just trooped through. Giancarlo Italiano named the same XI which started last week's match against Wrexham AFC. Auckland FC play their round of 32 game on Tuesday against Gold Coast Knights.
